3DS in Olympics Opening Ceremony

A few cameos from the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony that had me stoked: A shot of the Pink Floyd pig strung between the smokestacks of London's old power station-- a nice nod to their Animals album cover and the whole pig balloon floats away incident-- as well as using the Pink Floyd song Eclipse at the end of the show... nice.

But one cameo that really caught my eye: A kid playing a Nintendo 3DS during one of the videos:

There was also a sequence where a bunch of people flashed what looked like white Samsung Galaxy Notes, but I think Samsung is an official Olympic sponsor... after all they show Samsung Galaxy S III commercials every freakin' break.... but is Nintendo a sponsor?

Hmmm. It's a very slow summer for handheld news.


later
don

Telus sucks

Dear Telus: You really suck.

I just got a door to door solicitation from a couple of Telus employees, a woman & a slimy looking guy. They want to know if I use Telus for my phone or internet--- I don't... anymore. Then they want to know how much I pay for my services.

Mistake one: DON'T go to peoples homes and ask them for personal information. That's Grade-A Slimeball.

I should've asked the skeevy guy what HE pays for his service. How is it any of their business?

Then they tell me that they have "upgraded" their service in my area, and will offer me some "good deal".

So then I ask for their rates on paper... and the girl says, "Well, I have to crunch some numbers..."

To which I said, "Ok, goodbye" and promptly slammed the door on their faces.

Mistake Two: DON'T try to play some kind of shell game with customers. Either you have good rates or you don't, it ISN'T about whispering in a hush-hush "Just tell me what you pay, I can undercut the other guy by a little bit"... that's FLEA MARKET bullshit-- it shouldn't be used to try to sell internet/phone service.

That's why, Telus YOU SUCK. Learn to be a professional company, and act properly giving good competitive service & rates. Until then, you deserve to lose business. It's obvious you don't even care that much because of the mountains of $$$ you make from the OTHER skeevy mess that is the mobile phone service business. Don't even get me started on that cesspool that is in DIRE need of some regulation.



later
don

What's missing from all the 3DS XL reviews

Some points that keep getting overlooked from all the 3DS XL reviews out there:

-What does the inside panel feel like? It looks matte?

-They say the corners are more rounded so they don't jam into your palms the way the 3DS does (I find it very painful myself) but what about those holes for the lanyard strap? Since they are on the corners, will they push into our hands during marathon gaming sessions?

-Does the circle pad feel too high up on the body?

-A big one: What about the screen scratch issue? This has NEVER been addressed, even though it's a major problem almost as bad as the notorious dead pixel issue that plagued the first generation PSP. A site called ONM even has a noticeably scratched 3DS in its review video (skip to 1:15 to see it) yet they fail to acknowledge it. I took some screenshots:











The 3DS XL has 2 round pads above the top screen, what looks good is that they seem to line up so they lay against the raised part of the bottom screen-- on paper, that should mean that it's impossible for that raised part to mark the top screen like it does on the 3DS-- in theory, anyway....

-How much space does the new battery take up? Any reviewers thought of taking a screw driver to the back? Have any reviews even MENTIONED if the battery is user replaceable?

At least Engadget posted a size comparison to the Vita (finally...)




It's not that big when you see it in scale with the PS Vita. The Vita doesn't feel too large (at least not after me using it almost daily) and I think that tablets have accustomed us to the larger form factor-- compared to a 10" tablet, the Vita & I imagine the 3DS XL wouldn't feel that big.

-How does DS  & older software look on it? How do touchscreen based games play on it? I'm really curious about Steel Diver, one of my favourite 3DS games-- I think it may be more difficult to play on a larger screen because the controls are farther apart, and Kirby Mass Attack which may be easier to play because there's more space to control the Kirbys.


Some points that have been forgotten or ignored by tech reviewers so far. If and when I get a 3DS XL, I will try to cover some of them.



later
don

Kirby Mass Attack

I'm currently playing Kirby Mass Attack on my DS, I bought this awhile back, something to help tide me through this barren lack of any new games this year....

Holy CRAP I never thought I'd use the word "brutal" and "Kirby game" in the same sentence. What is developer  HAL Laboratory thinking here? It's *WAY* harder than most other Kirby games before it. I did play Kirby Canvas Curse, which is similar in that it uses all stylus to control Kirby, the control is actually more frustrating in that game... but it's also problematic here at times.

Kirby Mass Attack feels like it wants to be a Mario game in the challenge level. It ramps up the difficulty right away... I'm barely 10% in, and I've lost most of my 10 Kirbys-- which locks me out of being able to enter most of the levels. It even has the same big coins, except there are more per level. These coins are needed to unlock mini-games.

This is a game where you have to be brutally fast-- attack with savagery-- how bizarre is that, in a Kirby game?? But if you hesitate, the enemies will do their attack moves and you'll just get killed.  This is freakin' Kirby, HAL-- Kirby! The games are supposed to skew on the easier side.....

It is nice to have some challenge, but Mario hard is not called for here, nor is it appropriate. Is Kirby for younger gamers, or hardcores who grew up in the SNES generation? I'm not sure if this would be a good game for a young child.

It's not entirely the controls that frustrate, the big problem here is the lack of checkpoints. At least there is no time limit, and not too many regenerating enemies. But when you get the maximum 10 Kirbys, it is really hard to make them fit through areas that they NEED to fit through in order to, um, NOT DIE. I think there is a real lack of polish when it comes to the awkward stylus-only control.

Kirby Mass Attack even penalizes you for going between world levels-- if you do, you lose all your extra Kirbys! What is with the Mario-style punishment here?

Kirby Mass Attack has some really cute presentation & visual style... but the same can be said for the Mario games. It isn't unplayable, but it is annoying at times. I can only imagine the final boss will be stupid hard.

At least it's great to be playing my DS Lite again... when my 3DS needs to be charged-- since its battery dies SO fast-- I can use my DS Lite...


later
don